National Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist Day
Published 21 April 2023
Wednesday 26 April has been designated National Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist Day.
It’s the opportunity to thank the highly-skilled nurses who deliver cancer care, and to also ask the question: “Could YOU be a Cancer CNS?”.
As a patient’s key worker, the Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNSs) provide patients with detailed information about their care and treatment. They improve the quality and experience of care for patients, reinforce patient safety, and work with other healthcare professionals and organisations to improve patients’ care.
Cancer CNSs have a major impact on any patient’s cancer journey – whatever the outcome.
As a student nurse, Sue Honour remembers being chastised for sitting chatting to a patient during a quiet moment on a ward.
Almost 40 years on, those conversations are now a key part of her role as a cancer clinical nurse specialist, providing support to people diagnosed with head and neck cancer.
She took on the job with East Kent Hospitals 20 years ago, but is still learning and finding ways to improve the service.
Sue said: “The privilege of this job is that it gives me time with patients – a huge part of it is talking and listening.
“You can’t take away someone’s cancer, and there are some really challenging, difficult and upsetting days.
“But you can make their quality of life a bit better and you can improve their experience.
“We are always striving for improvements; I don’t think we will ever be satisfied as there is always more we could do to provide a better service for our patients.”
Sue and her colleagues are a crucial part of the support system offered to people with cancer, helping them navigate the often-confusing health service, arranging appointments or finding answers on everything from treatment options to financial benefits.
She said: “I’m a problem solver. People know they can contact us and we will get things done.
“The job has really expanded since I first started; back then we wouldn’t meet people until after they were diagnosed but now we are involved right at the start of their journey.
“We manage people’s pathways and speak to their GPs and make sure they have the right support in place at home.
“A lot of what we do is in the background but it makes a real difference.”
Sue applied for the CNS role after working on surgical wards, and managing an ear, nose and throat ward in Medway.
She said: “I always enjoyed looking after cancer patients so when I saw this role and it felt right for me.
“After 20 years I have learnt you can’t get personally involved. You have to learn to switch off and leave work at work. That doesn’t mean we don’t care, far from it, but if you take it all on you will break.
“The team is so supportive and I feel very lucky. Both the head and neck multi-disciplinary team and cancer services are fantastic and I love working with them.
“Our patients are at the heart of everything we do and we’re always looking for ways to help improve the support we can offer.”